Charity Corner 2017 Begins!

[Spritzie]

Were the items you tried that didn't work, coffees? I had a few like that and all of them had coffee as their type.

Also, if they have (Special) listed under their name in your SDB, they aren't a rarity that will work.

[Mouseykins]

16 minutes ago, Musical_Shoyru said:

I really will never get over how people inflate these prices. It's not fair and to me I feel like it should be shut down by TNT, that's not what the items are worth and people are jacking up the prices...

This is why I hate Charity Corner. And even if you get items valued at high amounts there's a very significant chance that by the time you're able to sell them the price will have deflated and not be worth as much. Even though donating could get me some items I need on my wishlist or stamps, to me it's not worth the extra time or hassle.

To everyone participating, have fun and I hope you get some good stuff! :)

[Musical_Shoyru]

4 minutes ago, Spritzie said:

Were the items you tried that didn't work, coffees? I had a few like that and all of them had coffee as their type.

Also, if they have (Special) listed under their name in your SDB, they aren't a rarity that will work.

The borovan I had didn't work under coffee or beverages and the Ultimate Icy Negg didn't work, even though it says it's a food.

[jellysundae]

19 minutes ago, Musical_Shoyru said:

Does anyone have a list up of items that qualify under each of the categories? I've gotten a few food items out of my SDB that aren't being taken as food, so I'm just wondering.

I really will never get over how people inflate these prices. It's not fair and to me I feel like it should be shut down by TNT, that's not what the items are worth and people are jacking up the prices...

What are the items that aren't qualifying?  Nothing with a rarity of 101 can be used if that's any kind of help. Not negg BD prizes either so it seems.

 

About that price-jacking...I'd say it's not up to TNT to do anything about it, just don't buy, it's totally your choice.

I did a bit of investigating during the last charity corner, and made a very interesting discovery...that the VAST amount of the shops selling "over-priced" items weren't actually people price-hiking to take advantage of the event at all. They were accounts that had been inactive for YEARS, with the items sat there - moldering away - for just as many years, and only coming to light now because of the mass buying that charity corner causes. All the cheaper items getting bought up so these higher priced items in abandoned shops are at the front on the shop wiz for the first time in forever.

[Musical_Shoyru]

2 minutes ago, jellysundae said:

What are the items that aren't qualifying?  Nothing with a rarity of 101 can be used if that's any kind of help. Not negg BD prizes either so it seems.

 

About that price-jacking...I'd say it's not up to TNT to do anything about it, just don't buy, it's totally your choice.

I did a bit of investigating during the last charity corner, and made a very interesting discovery...that the VAST amount of the shops selling "over-priced" items weren't actually people price-hiking to take advantage of the event at all. They were accounts that had been inactive for YEARS, with the items sat there - moldering away - for just as many years, and only coming to light now because of the mass buying that charity corner causes. All the cheaper items getting bought up so these higher priced items in abandoned shops are at the front on the shop wiz for the first time in forever.

TNT actually talks about it being wrong for "jacking up" the prices falsely on items that really aren't worth that much, people have been frozen before for doing so, all I'm saying is it seems to go un-noticed when the Charity Corner comes around. There are many people that would like to participate in the event and not everyone like you and I have r90 items in the SDB. This is a CHARITY corner, an event that could potentially help others out and give people some rare items, but unless you're a long time player or have things saved in your SDB, you're straight out of luck. It's sad to me that people take advantage of those who want rare items just to make a quick penny, or in this case Neopoint lol.

[deboratibi]

4 hours ago, smoss1 said:

Is it possible to get the avatar this year?

As far as I know, there is no solid info about this yet. But *my* suspicion is that if there's an avatar involved, it's going to be a new one, because the previous two have been themed (Christmas and Fall, respectively):

 

So I don't see these being re-released, at least not this time.

Also, since we don't know anything yet, I'd suggest donating at least once for every day of the event, since that may be a requirement for the avatar (if there is one). Maybe donating at least once in every item category, and/or once in every rarity range might be a good idea too!

[smoss1]

Okay, that sounds like a good idea. Thanks for the info!

 

Although I have missed the first day already because I forgot about it. :( But I can try to do the other things that are required.

5 minutes ago, deboratibi said:

As far as I know, there is no solid info about this yet. But *my* suspicion is that if there's an avatar involved, it's going to be a new one, because the previous two have been themed (Christmas and Fall, respectively):

 

So I don't see these being re-released, at least not this time.

Also, since we don't know anything yet, I'd suggest donating at least once for every day of the event, since that may be a requirement for the avatar (if there is one). Maybe donating at least once in every item category, and/or once in every rarity range might be a good idea too!

 

[suzanoberle]

1 hour ago, Musical_Shoyru said:

I really will never get over how people inflate these prices. It's not fair and to me I feel like it should be shut down by TNT, that's not what the items are worth and people are jacking up the prices...

Of course some people are marking up, but I think primarily people just bought up all the cheaper items to donate.  There have always been people asking 30,000 NP for a 10 NP item, but all the less expensive ones have been snapped up.  You can see it on a few items where only one or two stores will appear in a shopwizard search.

[suzanoberle]

8 hours ago, jellysundae said:

Onto many copies of Skies Above Tyrannia now!

33 - Rainbow Pteri Feather Stamp 125k

35 - Gathow   450k

36 - Ghost Shoyru Morphing Potion  120k

37 - Fire Aisha Morphing Potion  150k

So the Gathow is awesome, but I see why people sometimes prefer to sell.  The fun is in the surprise of what item you'll get.  However,  Skies above Tyrannia are going for around 35K right now, so if you donate 5 instead of selling, you essentially paid 175000 NP (5 x 35k) for that 120K ghost shoyru morphing potion.

In the long run, I think you come out ahead on the prizes vs. selling, but it's a risk.

 

[jellysundae]

2 hours ago, Musical_Shoyru said:

TNT actually talks about it being wrong for "jacking up" the prices falsely on items that really aren't worth that much, people have been frozen before for doing so, all I'm saying is it seems to go un-noticed when the Charity Corner comes around.

Yup, artificial inflation is a dirty problem on online games, and TNT would be totally remiss if they didn't take a hard line against it. But Charity Corner creates a pretty unique scenario I think; a sudden global need for the same items...it's probably a text book supply and demand situation.

I was thinking about this as I cooked my dinner, lol, and again I'm going to use the evidence that I saw during previous CC's.  I did a bit of book-buying, someone on here suggested this particular book that had a consistent price of 100np, pre-CC. I bought a fair few of them over the course of the next few days, and each day the price steadily climbed until it was at 400 or so and I wasn't willing to buy any more as there's cheaper books in the general store, anyway...

It was at that point that I'd started checking the owners of the shops out and discovered they were inactive. So I'm thinking about this while my omelette cooked just now...if all the normally priced items being sold by active users have been snapped up, so when a person goes to price-check an item to sell it what they're going to see is the higher than normal prices of the items that have been languishing in abandoned shops as the cheapest on the SW, then they're not actually over-pricing because those items are currently the cheapest.

Though there ARE people out there doing their best to force prices to go as high as possible. I genuinely don't think that many are though.

...

Pretty sure I'm not making much sense here, LOL! I know what I'm trying to say, but I don't think I'm succeeding very well >_<

 

I guess that on the whole, inflation during an event like this is a necessary evil. It's unavoidable. You COULD try and counter it by selling items at their normal price, but you know what would happen there don't you...people would happily pay your cheap price, then turn around and put your item back up for sale for 4 times as much...

[Musical_Shoyru]

1 hour ago, jellysundae said:

Yup, artificial inflation is dirty problem on online games, and TNT would be totally remiss if they didn't take a hard line against it. But Charity Corner creates a pretty unique scenario I think; a sudden global need for the same items...it's probably a text book supply and demand situation.

I was thinking about this as I cooked my dinner, lol, and again I'm going to use the evidence that I saw during previous CC's.  I did a bit of book-buying, someone on here suggested this particular book that had a consistent price of 100np, pre-CC. I bought a fair few of them over the course of the next few days, and each day the price steadily climbed until it was at 400 or so and I wasn't willing to buy any more as there's cheaper books in the general store, anyway...

It was at that point that I'd started checking the owners of the shops out and discovered they were inactive. So I'm thinking about this while my omelette cooked just now...if all the normally priced items being sold by active users have been snapped up, so when a person goes to price-check an item to sell it what they're going to see is the higher than normal prices of the items that have been languishing in abandoned shops as the cheapest on the SW, then they're not actually over-pricing because those items are currently the cheapest.

Though there ARE people out there doing their best to force prices to go as high as possible. I genuinely don't think that many are though.

...

Pretty sure I'm not making much sense here, LOL! I know what I'm trying to say, but I don't think I'm succeeding very well >_<

 

I guess that on the whole, inflation during an event like this is a necessary evil. It's unavoidable. You COULD try and counter it by selling items at their normal price, but you know what would happen there don't you...people would happily pay your cheap price, then turn around and put your item back up for sale for 4 times as much...

I usually shut my shop down during the CC's because I am not going to support people buying items and jacking the prices up, I usually donate anything I don't use :) I hear what you're saying, it made sense to me! :) I just wish it wasn't like that :(

 

I guess it's just my nature I suppose, I'd love to go out and give people the r90 items, but I can't possibly afford that for as many people as I'd like to give out too haha

I'm actually getting a BAD return on items this time around, which is unusual for me because I normally get some good items! This is what I've gotten so far. Some of these were returns on rarity 90 items :(

http://items.jellyneo.net/mywishes/singing1633/135382/

 

Also if anyone is looking for a cheap food item that's in the r80 category, (which is normally where I float around during these events) the Alien Aisha Zapzaggle is still VERY cheap :)

[deboratibi]

Regarding the inflation thing, while it's very frustrating and upsetting for many people, it's not against the rules in this situation. TNT has addressed this a few times:

TNT, in light of the results of the current event step (at the time of this writing, massive inflation of junk items, sometimes up to unbuyable level), could we get clarification on what is considered false inflation and what isn't? It's been stated previously that false inflation is defined as groups of players working together to drive prices up, which is against the rules. However, what if multiple people are acting independently and buying masses of items to the same end, just working on their own? Is someone hoarding thousands of the same item and then claiming, "Okay, I have them ALL now, so I say they're worth 90,000 NP!" seriously within the rules just because it's not a group? Furthermore, is this sort of scheming behind the massive inflation of this week, or was it regular supply / demand mechanics? Please remove my username. ~username removed
The inflation issue was our fault. We've adjusted some things to hopefully reduce the chances of that happening. Players that were acting alone (and thus playing fairly) in cornering the market found a way to play the economy to make Neopoints, and that's a perfectly legitimate way to play. If the items are actually selling to players for that amount, then it's inflation caused by supply and demand.
Source: Editorial issue 638

Hello, TNT! *gives TNT a Weewoo* Anyway, in last week's Editorial, you said that players who were buying up everything by themselves to inflate the prices were, in fact, playing by the rules -- or, at least, that's what I understood. Is that correct? ~hereicomenow
Correct. Sometimes players may do things that irritate or downright enrage you (like charging a ton for quest items or converting UCs), but they are not breaking any rules. Only when someone is attempting to maliciously trick you does it become scamming and therefore punishable.
Source: Editorial issue 639

^ These two refer to The Coincidence event, but it was a similar situation.

Before I ask, I'd like to clarify that I have not participated in such schemery, but was just wondering since I know that people can drive up prices by buying out certain items and the like. My question is: when it is a group of people working together to monopolize a certain item, it is against the rules. Why is this? We as Neopians set prices on items one way or another -- if a group bands together to drive prices up on items, is this not just Neopian economics at work? Again, I have not done such a thing -- I don't have the FUNDS to do such a thing -- I'm just genuinely curious as to how this came about, I suppose. Was this a major issue in the past? *hands a non-inflated cupcake* ~midnight_rising
While Neopets has a huge social aspect and awesome community that helps each other out, at its core Neopets boils down to individuals progressing on their individual main accounts. While offering gifts or advice to other players is awesome, where we need to draw the line is with multiple people working as a unit to advance accounts. This is why we don't allow multiple players to control a single account, or multiple accounts acting as a single account. While, undoubtedly, there are single accounts out there rich enough to control some aspect of the economy, there are limits. If multiple accounts like that worked together, just a few accounts could end up controlling a huge portion of the Neopets economy. We like the Neopets economy player-run, not dominated by Neopian coalitions.
Source: Editorial issue 630

So basically, charging thousands for junk items because they are in high demand and people are willing to pay for them = okay, because that's real inflation
Organising with other players to buy up certain items so there's less of them out there, and they can drive up the prices to make a profit = not okay, because that's monopolisation

[Musical_Shoyru]

4 minutes ago, deboratibi said:

Regarding the inflation thing, while it's very frustrating and upsetting for many people, it's not against the rules in this situation. TNT had addressed this a few times:

TNT, in light of the results of the current event step (at the time of this writing, massive inflation of junk items, sometimes up to unbuyable level), could we get clarification on what is considered false inflation and what isn't? It's been stated previously that false inflation is defined as groups of players working together to drive prices up, which is against the rules. However, what if multiple people are acting independently and buying masses of items to the same end, just working on their own? Is someone hoarding thousands of the same item and then claiming, "Okay, I have them ALL now, so I say they're worth 90,000 NP!" seriously within the rules just because it's not a group? Furthermore, is this sort of scheming behind the massive inflation of this week, or was it regular supply / demand mechanics? Please remove my username. ~username removed
The inflation issue was our fault. We've adjusted some things to hopefully reduce the chances of that happening. Players that were acting alone (and thus playing fairly) in cornering the market found a way to play the economy to make Neopoints, and that's a perfectly legitimate way to play. If the items are actually selling to players for that amount, then it's inflation caused by supply and demand.
Source: Editorial issue 638

Hello, TNT! *gives TNT a Weewoo* Anyway, in last week's Editorial, you said that players who were buying up everything by themselves to inflate the prices were, in fact, playing by the rules -- or, at least, that's what I understood. Is that correct? ~hereicomenow
Correct. Sometimes players may do things that irritate or downright enrage you (like charging a ton for quest items or converting UCs), but they are not breaking any rules. Only when someone is attempting to maliciously trick you does it become scamming and therefore punishable.
Source: Editorial issue 639

^ These two refer to The Coincidence event, but it was a similar situation.

Before I ask, I'd like to clarify that I have not participated in such schemery, but was just wondering since I know that people can drive up prices by buying out certain items and the like. My question is: when it is a group of people working together to monopolize a certain item, it is against the rules. Why is this? We as Neopians set prices on items one way or another -- if a group bands together to drive prices up on items, is this not just Neopian economics at work? Again, I have not done such a thing -- I don't have the FUNDS to do such a thing -- I'm just genuinely curious as to how this came about, I suppose. Was this a major issue in the past? *hands a non-inflated cupcake* ~midnight_rising
While Neopets has a huge social aspect and awesome community that helps each other out, at its core Neopets boils down to individuals progressing on their individual main accounts. While offering gifts or advice to other players is awesome, where we need to draw the line is with multiple people working as a unit to advance accounts. This is why we don't allow multiple players to control a single account, or multiple accounts acting as a single account. While, undoubtedly, there are single accounts out there rich enough to control some aspect of the economy, there are limits. If multiple accounts like that worked together, just a few accounts could end up controlling a huge portion of the Neopets economy. We like the Neopets economy player-run, not dominated by Neopian coalitions.
Source: Editorial issue 630

So basically, charging thousands for junk items because they are in high demand and people are willing to pay for them = okay, because that's real inflation
Organising with other players to buy up certain items so there's less of them out there, and they can drive up the prices to make a profit = not okay, because that's monopolisation

hmm that's different from the Terms and Condition page here;

Q. My friends and I have been purchasing all the Dr. Sloth Costumes and then jacking up the price. Is that okay?
A. No, you cannot conspire with others to corner the market in an item and then artificially raise the price. This is called price fixing which violates Neopets' Terms and Conditions. If we detect this, we will either freeze all the players involved in the conspiracy or delete all the items they are hoarding. However, in anticipation of a war or other event, you can, by yourself, purchase unlimited quantities of an item in the expectation the price will rise. This is called price speculation, which is fine. 

 

I understand buying items for price speculation, but I'm quite sure there are people that bought items out together to raise the price... i guess in a situation like this it's hard to manage... I still stand by saying it downright isn't fair  *sigh*

 

Oh well, what can I do about, pretty much nothing. I'll get over it. Hopefully.... maybe lol
 

[jellysundae]

17 minutes ago, Musical_Shoyru said:

 I hear what you're saying, it made sense to me! :) I just wish it wasn't like that :(

 

*hugs* you're a sweetie, Musical, you really are.

15 minutes ago, deboratibi said:

So basically, charging thousands for junk items because they are in high demand and people are willing to pay for them = okay, because that's real inflation
 

Yup, and yup. Deb managed to summarise what I was waffling on and on about in just one sentence. >_<

But as Musical says...wish it wasn't like that :(

 

Greed seems to be an intrinsic part of human nature though. Though the really greedy people probably use some BS justificational term like entrepreneurial

[Musical_Shoyru]

4 minutes ago, jellysundae said:

*hugs* you're a sweetie, Midnight, you really are.

Yup, and yup. Deb managed to summarise what I was waffling on and on about in just one sentence. >_<

But as Midnight says...wish it wasn't like that :(

 

Greed seems to be an intrinsic part of human nature though. Though the really greedy people probably use some BS justificational term like entrepreneurial

I think that's why I'm in disbelief of it and have such a hard time fathoming it, although these are just pixels on an online community, there's still real people with real feelings behind those pixels and I can only imagine the smiles on peoples faces when they get the item back from Granny that they've been trying to get for awhile ya know? So when I see people that do purposely inflate (and I know there's some that don't  :) ) I just think about how they're taking away the possibility of making someones day. Maybe that's stupid, haha, but that's my look on it.

I think you mean "musical" or something, I don't think midnight has commented on this again! lol :)

[jellysundae]

17 minutes ago, Musical_Shoyru said:

I think that's why I'm in disbelief of it and have such a hard time fathoming it, although these are just pixels on an online community, there's still real people with real feelings behind those pixels and I can only imagine the smiles on peoples faces when they get the item back from Granny that they've been trying to get for awhile ya know? So when I see people that do purposely inflate (and I know there's some that don't  :) ) I just think about how they're taking away the possibility of making someones day. Maybe that's stupid, haha, but that's my look on it.

I think you mean "musical" or something, I don't think midnight has commented on this again! lol :)

Yeah I realised I'd given you a new name for a while there, I have edited it though, lol. Sorry, didn't mean to reveal your secret identity or anything like that! lol.

 

Them being just pixels never stopped anyone, believe me. People who manipulate/are greedy/thoughtless etc. etc. will be like that online, just like they are in RL. But, actually no wait, let's make that a BUT... the greedy manipulators are in the minority. You just need to focus on that and enjoy things despite them.

 

I'm totally enjoying this event, I just LOVE seeing what items I get, it's such fun! I don't give a monkeys about things like how I'm theoretically paying more than market value for a morphing potion - that I got for FREE, by donating BD items that I got for FREE. That's messed up thinking, totally takes the fun out of everything.

*gently bops the people who feel this way*

SO, I consequently feel it is my DUTY to enjoy things more, to make up for the people who find the process frustrating for various reasons. <3 feel the love guys!

[hrtbrk]

3 hours ago, Musical_Shoyru said:

TNT actually talks about it being wrong for "jacking up" the prices falsely on items that really aren't worth that much, people have been frozen before for doing so, all I'm saying is it seems to go un-noticed when the Charity Corner comes around. There are many people that would like to participate in the event and not everyone like you and I have r90 items in the SDB. This is a CHARITY corner, an event that could potentially help others out and give people some rare items, but unless you're a long time player or have things saved in your SDB, you're straight out of luck. It's sad to me that people take advantage of those who want rare items just to make a quick penny, or in this case Neopoint lol.

Except it's not "falsely price jacking up" during this or any event for that matter. These items are essentially being deleted and the price inflates due to supply and demand. The demand increases while the supply decreases. This is like economy 101 here. No one is being "taken advantage of" now, especially since Jumpstaff changed how the event works. This event has been around for years and every player had the same fair opportunity to start hoarding R90 items to either use or sell, most of which are given out for free from dailies. So it's not really reasonable for others who chose NOT to do that to cry about how it's 'unfair' to them. Because it's not at all. There is a major difference from buying all stock of a 1 np item off the SW and then requesting 2 million nps for them. That is a freezable offense; this is not.

The real charity here is that you delete items off their servers for them, while taking billions of neopoints of the economy... and you do all the work

[Musical_Shoyru]

5 minutes ago, hrtbrk said:

Except it's not "price jacking up" during this or any event for that matter. These items are essentially being deleted and the price inflates due to demand. This is like economy 101 here. No one is being "taken advantage of" now, especially since Jumpstaff changed how the event works. This event has been around for years and every player had the same fair opportunity to start hoarding R90 items to either use or sell, most of which are given out for free from dailies. So it's not really reasonable for others who chose NOT to do that to cry about how it's 'unfair' to them. Because it's not. At all.

The real charity here is that you delete items off their servers for them, while taking billions of neopoints of the economy... and you do all the work

I mean I'm a hoarder on NP, so I hoard items. But without any CLEAR news about what items will be in the next Charity Event you don't know what to buy honestly, you won't know till it comes out. I understand people have different opinions about this and I by no means am getting mad at anyone for having a different opinion (hopefully I didn't come off that way Jellysundae!)

But I'll just respectfully agree to disagree. I still think it's unfair and you'll still think it's fair, no biggy. The world wouldn't be any fun if we all had the same opinion :) <3

[deboratibi]

I understand the feeling. However, let me play devil's advocate... The Charity Corner isn't much of a game, it's a reward machine. We all want those r90+ in hopes of getting rare items in return, and I believe most of us would like to later sell those items for neopoints. So, is there that much of a difference in being the ones selling the junk items and being the ones trying to get the goodies from the Charity Corner? I don't know, I'm just throwing this out there.

[hrtbrk]

@Musical_Shoyru I don't think anyone's mad but I would assume others do get frustrated at the amount of complaining from people who had the chance to do something about it, yet chose to do nothing, then complain because of it Not everything needs to be 100% fair all the time. People need to take responsibility for themselves too.

Like you said, it's pretty simple to start storing R90 items in your SDB because who knows what the categories will be

[Musical_Shoyru]

Just now, hrtbrk said:

@Musical_Shoyru I don't think anyone's mad but I would assume others do get frustrated at the amount of complaining from people who had the chance to do something about it, yet chose to do nothing, then complain because of it

I mean I honestly haven't heard anyone complain, I guess I'm more so complaining for them haha. I still think it's VERY hard to do something about something if you don't know what that "item/something" is going to be.

Any other news, I keep hoping for a Faerie MP and nothing lol

[jellysundae]

10 minutes ago, Musical_Shoyru said:

 I still think it's VERY hard to do something about something if you don't know what that "item/something" is going to be.

 

This is covered by the well-known Neopian Mantra of NEVER. THROW. ANYTHING. AWAY.

Since the last charity corner I think I've got rid of maybe 20 things? Stuff like smelly jellies, kelp and rubbish weapons you get masses of from the BD, and even when I'm discarding those weapons there's a voice in the back of my head saying, "you're gonna regret that one day and you know it!"

 

Pretty massive irony that Charity Corner - an event intended solely to shed some of the load on the server by getting rid of a lot of items - makes people hoard even more items than usual.

[Musical_Shoyru]

3 minutes ago, jellysundae said:

This is covered by the well-known Neopian Mantra of NEVER. THROW. ANYTHING. AWAY.

Since the last charity corner I think I've got rid of maybe 20 things? Stuff like smelly jellies, kelp and rubbish weapons you get masses of from the BD, and even when I'm discarding those weapons there's a voice in the back of my head saying, "you're gonna regret that one day and you know it!"

 

Pretty massive irony that Charity Corner - an event intended solely to shed some of the load on the server by getting rid of a lot of items - makes people hoard even more items than usual.

Yeah I pretty much became a hoarder after the first Charity Event. I also keep everything for the Wishlist Gifting we do here on TDN because you never know what someone might want/collect :)

 

[Angeló]

Quote

I really will never get over how people inflate these prices. It's not fair and to me I feel like it should be shut down by TNT, that's not what the items are worth and people are jacking up the prices...

im with you .. but it's a free economy (i.e capitalism) and TNT can't control it .. it's called supply and demand .. the more the demand - the more prices will go up ...

[decchild]

9 hours ago, jellysundae said:

Here's something I'm noticing...I've donated 177 times so far, and I've not had a single duplicate prize yet!

And, only about 4 of them have been items that I already have. I'm liking this!

I got a few duplicate prizes like Pirate Small Talk books and Snazzy Moon Combs.... :(